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Poole: Ex-Oakland Raider JaMarcus Russell has hometown behind him

By Monte Poole

Bay Area News Group

Posted:
02/11/2013 10:37:23 AM PST

Updated:
02/13/2013 02:24:50 PM PST

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT (publ. 2/13/2013, pg. 2A) A story about JaMarcus Russell incorrectly identified the source of a quote from Marshall Faulk. The quote originally appeared in a story by NFL.com.

MOBILE, Ala. -- The first glimpse of him was through the barbershop window, a 300-pound mountain wearing a ball cap, a sweatshirt, sweatpants that stopped midcalf and sneakers. His eyes were hidden behind fashion sunglasses.

If JaMarcus Russell intends to silence a nation of critics, he has many miles to run.

He also will have folks in his old neighborhood providing unconditional support. The folks here in the Maysville neighborhood of Mobile represent Russell's personal cheering section. They have his back.

In the days after Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans, I made the 280-mile round trip to see JaMarcus, to listen to the locals, examine their sorrow or optimism and see if they still believe in the young man.

What I discovered was just how much Russell means to Maysville, a low-income patch where pride and poverty coexist amid mostly older vehicles and modest bungalow-type homes, some neat and others dilapidated or boarded up.

Most of them still believe in JaMarcus. It is strikingly evident while roaming his 'hood for a couple of hours -- most of that time at the quaint barbershop on the corner of Dublin and Ghent -- that the former Raiders quarterback remains lodged in their hearts.

When he failed, they also failed.

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If he rises, and Russell reportedly says he will, they rise with him.

"If he goes anywhere -- the Jets, Miami, wherever -- we'll be with him," said Reginald Payton, a barber who has known Russell since grade school. "Just get on a team. We don't care which team."

Russell, taken first overall by Oakland in the 2007 draft, only to play his way off the team and out of the league by 2010, says he wants to get off his backside and do the work required for a return to the NFL. The initial report, from Yahoo Sports, quoted Russell, 27, saying he will enlist several high-profile former athletes to help him train.

Russell began workouts last week at TEST West Football Academy in San Diego. TEST, which seeks to maximize the competitive potential of its clients, partners with numerous high-profile athletes and fitness coaches, including sprinter Ato Boldon as well as retired NFL players Marshall Faulk, Donnie Edwards and Jeff Garcia.

"I told them I would (help Russell) under one condition -- that I talk to him one-on-one before I sign on," Faulk told NFL.com. "I want to know if he's doing this for money or if he's for real. If it's only for the money, I want no part of it. If he's serious about playing football again, I'll help out."

JaMarcus Russell, January 2010 (Bay Area News Group)

At least one man, Garcia, has accepted the challenge. Briefly Russell's teammate in Oakland, Garcia is putting JaMarcus through drills designed to improve footwork, passing and overall conditioning. TEST has released a short video featuring both men.

Russell is fighting long odds. Rarely does a quarterback come back from such depths of despair. There is Kurt Warner, the undrafted rookie who was waived, spent time stocking shelves at a grocery store and came back to win a Super Bowl. And there is, of course, Michael Vick, a fallen star who returned to shake off three years of rust and lead his team into the playoffs.

Though many are skeptical of Russell's ability to put in the effort that will be required, the folks in Maysville are giddy with anticipation.

"When I heard he was trying to get back into the league," says barbershop owner Moses Parker, "I got a chill just thinking about what it would mean."

The folks here look up to JaMarcus. They yearn for him to make something better of himself. Every neighborhood has its stars, and none in Maysville was bigger than Russell. He was the quarterback at Williamson High, one block from the barbershop, before taking his show to LSU, the college powerhouse a four-hour drive west. And then it was on to Oakland, where JaMarcus was handed a kingly sum to resurrect a foundering franchise.

Three seasons later, with a 7-18 record as a starter and Raiders fans expressing vociferous disapproval, Russell was dismissed by late owner Al Davis. Then only 24, Russell left the team facility and caught a flight to Alabama, where he arrived with the word "bust" attached to his name.

He has spent the last 33 months as one of the most popular punch lines in sports.

"I hate how they talk trash about him on TV, on ESPN," says Payton.

"He said they took his manhood," says Tre Hern, one of the barbers in Parker's shop. "It's not about money. He'll play for nothing."

In Maysville, Russell represented that priceless but intangible and all too essential quality referred to as hope. Still does. And yet, most saw enough to accept the truth.

"We didn't like it, but we watch TV, too," says James Pryor, who acknowledges being behind bars for much of Russell's NFL tour. "We saw the same thing everybody else saw. We wasn't surprised.

"We know he can play. But is he gonna play?"

Though Russell has the arm strength to throw through "windows" smaller than most passers would have the hubris to try, he was overweight and lethargic. The team leader clearly was not mentally or physically up to the task.

Rumors of Russell indulging in a codeine-based street narcotic known as "purple drank" gained traction in 2010, when he was arrested for possession of codeine without a prescription. No charges were filed.

What was clear to all, even those who supported him, was that JaMarcus -- who came to an unstable franchise without much of a support system -- was more preoccupied with living large than focused on being the great player Davis vowed he would become.

"Look at where he comes from," Pryor says, motioning toward the neighborhood where unemployment is almost as high as truancy. "To be 21 years old and go from this to having $30 million, we all wish we could have had that chance. We watched him go from here to having anything he wanted."

When Russell, wearing a trace of a smile, walked over to greet me with a handshake in front of the barbershop, he wanted to know what brought me to Mobile. I said I wanted to see for myself, listen to the locals and hear what he had to say.

JaMarcus nodded. He said Oakland was a long time ago but that he plans to play again. I asked if he wanted to talk about it. He said maybe, but first he had to go somewhere with his father. He took my cell number and said he'd call.

He has not. A few days later, he arrived at TEST West.

I understand Russell's reluctance to discuss his goal. His time as a Raider was the darkest of his life, and he knows I was a witness. JaMarcus badly wants to recast himself. If he does return to the NFL, a league in perpetual search of quarterbacks, he knows what it would mean.

He wouldn't have to say a word. He will have shown us. He will have risen.